Dues for drugs worth Rs 90 crore pending, claim suppliers in city

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SUPPLIERS OF pharmaceutical drugs in the national capital claimed that they have not received the payment for medicines worth Rs 90 crore from the Delhi government’s Central Procurement Agency (CPA) — responsible for supplying medicines to state hospitals — for more than six months.

According to the manufacturers and suppliers, they have been supplying pharmaceutical drugs to Delhi government hospitals, CDMO (contract development and manufacturing organisation) stores, and consignees — designated by the CPA — on orders placed against rate contracts approved in their favour, and despite this, they have not received payment for months.

The suppliers' association, meanwhile, wrote a letter to the CPA, highlighting the concerns. “During these six months, orders worth over Rs 90 crore were placed twice — on 27/09/2023 and 12/12/2023. The supplies were completed, and bills submitted to the goods office, however, no payment has yet been made. Another round of orders was placed on 15/03/2024, on the running rate contracts ,” read the letter, adding that due to this, the last order — created on March 15 — has not yet been delivered.

According to the letter, the non-payment of the bills has put the suppliers in great distress, who are left with no funds to cater to new orders now. Further delay in payment would cause irreparable financial damages, claimed the suppliers. An official CPA source said that payments worth Rs 8090 crore are still pending. “Nearly

Rs 84 crore of CPA budget has lapsed, and the suppliers have not been paid yet. Non-payment has its spiraling effect, and supply of medicines (to public healthcare facilities) will be affected further ,” said the official. despite several attempts, Director General Health Services (DGHS) Director Dr Vandana Bagga was not unavailable for comment.

Meanwhile, an official statement from the Delhi government stated: “The Health Minister has persistently been writing and communicating to the Chief Secretary as well as the Secretary (Health) for the past two months, regarding the severe shortage of essential medicines and medical consumables at hospitals, however, the Chief Secretary and the Secretary have maintained that there was no scarcity of the products/ items.” Even during the Legislative Assembly discussion in april, many ml as contradicted the Chief Secretary's claims.

“The Health Minister has taken all requisite steps, including writing directly to the Delhi L-G (V ks axe na ), to immediately alert him that the Chief Secretary and the secretary( health) have deliberately been plunging Delhi towardsa catastrophic' man-made' health crisis ...,” read the delhi government statement.

Archive Suppliers assert that further delay will cause irreparable financial damages.